CPA

Patrick Kmieciak, who earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of North Florida, is a top CPA exam performer and winner of the 2016 Elijah Watt Sells Award by the American Institute of CPAs. This is the first time a UNF graduate has been recognized with this national award.

“The faculty in the Department of Accounting and Finance are extremely proud of Patrick upon being named as a recipient of this prestigious award,” said Dr. David Jaeger, chair of the Department of Accounting and Finance at UNF. “This honor is well deserved and is the result of Patrick’s hard work and dedication, providing evidence of the high-quality students attracted to the accounting programs at UNF.”
Over 100,000 individuals sat for the exam in 2016 and only 58 candidates meeting the criteria received the Elijah Watt Sells Award. The award is bestowed upon CPA candidates who have obtained a cumulative average score above 95.50 across all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, passed all four sections of the exam on their first attempt and completed testing in 2016.
“The CPA Examination, along with the education and experience required, sets a high bar for entry into the profession. This serves to protect the public interest by ensuring that only qualified individuals earn a CPA license,” said Michael Decker, AICPA vice president of examinations. “On behalf of the AICPA, I’d like to congratulate this year’s winners of the Elijah Watt Sells award on their outstanding accomplishment and wish them the best of luck in their careers.”
Kmieciak, a downtown resident, is currently employed at PwC LLP, where he provides auditing services to private and public clients. While at UNF, he was a graduate and teaching assistant, teaching intermediate accounting classes as well as proctoring exams. In the fall of 2013, he began tutoring accounting and finance students and currently conducts private tutoring sessions on the weekend, which allows him to aid students and stay close to the University.
Kmieciak is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Gamma Sigma. He was on the President’s Honor Roll between fall 2013 and summer 2016, earning a 4.0 GPA every semester for three years. In 2015, he scored in the 99th percentile on the Coggin College of Business exit exam and the 97th percentile on the Graduate Management Admission Test.
The Elijah Watt Sells Award program was established by the AICPA in 1923 to recognize outstanding performance on the CPA Examination. Sells, one of the first CPAs in the U.S., was active in the establishment of the AICPA and played a key role advancing professional education within the profession.